


Safe Return

by Karios



Category: Forever (TV 2014)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Pre-Canon, Running Away
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-17 12:55:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29350797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Karios/pseuds/Karios
Summary: When Jo is assigned Mike Hanson as her partner, she inherits the rest of Hanson's family too.
Relationships: Mike Hanson & Jo Martinez
Comments: 7
Kudos: 13
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 6





	Safe Return

**Author's Note:**

  * For [iwasanartist](https://archiveofourown.org/users/iwasanartist/gifts).



> Thanks to Gammarad!

The text came in as Jo was debating the merits of actually attempting to cook versus heating up yet another convenience store grab-and-go item. The incoming message ping was startling enough in Jo's empty, silent home that she checked it immediately.

_Donnie's missing._

She dialed Mike back immediately, and as soon as the call connected, Jo started in on questions: "How long has it been? What do we know?" 

"An hour and forty-five minutes. Maybe a bit less. He and Ronnie were both over at a friend's house, but Ronnie just got dropped off without him. Said there had been a fight with the other kids, and Donnie stormed off saying he was going to walk home. It's nearly two miles! Why didn't he call someone to come get him?"

"He should have," Jo agreed gently. "Have you called it in?"

"I called Lieu directly. She reminded me to run through the basics. Call the school, check with all his friends' parents..." Mike trailed off because of course Jo knew all of this. "Everything I should have known to do. Why does it feel so much less obvious when it's happening to you?"

Jo abandoned the food, grabbed her keys, and shrugged back into her jacket. "It's harder to think straight when you're scared. Text me the address of this other kid's house. I'll head that way and start patrolling the search area."

A beat of silence was followed by a slightly choked "Thanks," on Mike's end of the line.

"It's nothing you wouldn't do for me," Jo replied before disconnecting the call. It was more than a simple platitude, but true. Mike had been a good partner from their first day working together. Jo had been worried she'd get someone who would want to protect her, or worse yet, find out about her father and look at her with an air of suspicion she could never quite shake. Instead, Mike's biggest concern had been whether Jo liked kids. As she jogged to her car and sped towards the Hansons' neighborhood, she thought back to that day.

"Is that some kind of pick up line?" she'd asked.

"No, geez, it's just...I might have promised my wife and kids that they would get to meet my new partner. They want to know who's got Daddy's back all day. That's how I explained it." Mike looked vaguely embarrassed and Jo wasn't sure whether he was worried about the request or the initial misunderstanding. "You don't have to come, but I'd like to invite you to dinner at my house sometime."

There'd been teasing back and forth that already felt natural which ended with the promise of excellent home cooking, and Jo agreed happily to join in on a Hanson family dinner at the end of the week.

By the end of that night, both Hanson boys were calling her Auntie Jo, and despite their endless energy—and tendency to swordfight with any lengthy stick-like object—she was looking forward to seeing them again.

And she did see the boys here and there, whether dropping off gifts or stopping in whenever she was the one to drive Mike home. She turned all of those interactions over in her mind and came up with nothing that stood out to her as somewhere to check for Donnie even as her eyes scanned diligently up and down each road.

She sifted through more recent memories knowing something would be a clue about where Donnie might have hunkered down if he'd gotten turned around or tired after he'd set out.

Her car wound around the semi-residential streets of the neighborhood. A potential search location came to her as she stopped to wait for a light and noticed a tree with a deep fork in the trunk. 

An office building had been renovated around here somewhere. The most obvious of the changes the new developer had made were adding concrete porticos to all the entranceways. Donnie had been excited about the new door-roofs as he'd called them. Great for jump scares on Halloween or hide-and-seek, both Hanson boys had agreed gleefully.

Trusting her gut, Jo detoured that way and parked in the half-empty lot, leaving her badge in the window before circling the block-long building on foot. Each empty entrance was a fresh disappointment until finally she spotted him huddled up against a door. "Donnie Hanson!" 

He startled at the sound of her voice, hopped up to his feet and pulled his bookbag across his shoulders.

"Auntie Jo!" To her surprise, he barrelled straight into her arms. "What are you doing here?" 

"Looking for you," she answered as she returned the hug. "Your mom and dad have been so worried."

At this he pulled away immediately, "I'm not going home!" he declared fiercely. "You'll have to arrest me."

In any other circumstances, it might have been funny, but his insistence flooded Jo with concern. She squatted down so she could be a bit closer to eye level as she asked, "Donnie, is there something wrong at home?"

"It's Ronnie!" he wailed, a few fresh tears leaking from his already red eyes. As he scrubbed at his cheeks, Donnie launched into an explanation of the crushing defeat he'd suffered during several rounds of some playground game that Jo had never heard of; the rules for it had likely come into being only that afternoon. Furthermore, it seemed that Ronnie had committed the greatest offense of all tag-along little brothers by succeeding at this newly minted pastime and winning over the admiration of Donnie's friends.

"They were my friends first," Donnie repeated poutingly. Jo was relieved the problem was nothing more serious than youthful squabbling, but she also wanted to take his obvious distress seriously.

"Tell you what. I'm not going to arrest you."

He opened his mouth to protest.

"But, I'm not going to take you home either." Jo pretended to think for a moment. "We'll run away together instead. It's got to be easier to run away with someone who has a car, right?"

Donnie's face lit up. "Really? You'd do that for me?"

"Uh huh. But first, I gotta call your dad."

"You can't tell him about me. He'll come find us," Donnie protested.

"But someone has to tell him that he needs to find a new partner. We both want him to be safe, right?"

Donnie nodded reluctantly. "Okay. But you can't tell him where we are."

"Promise I won't." She dialed Mike's number and pressed the phone to her ear. In an exaggerated tone she answered his greeting and questions with: "My friend and I are running away from home! You can't stop us and I'm sorry I won't be around to help you catch the bad guys anymore."

"Jo?" Mike was understandably confused. "Are you putting me on?"

She continued on as though Mike hadn't spoken, knowing he'd catch on. "That's right. We're going far, far away. Somewhere with new schools and new jobs and no swordfighting little brothers and we're not going to miss any of you."

Donnie forgot himself, shouting, "No. Don't say that! I'd miss him. Don't believe her, Dad!"

Jo broke out into a smile, lowering the phone. "Does that mean I can take you home?"

Donnie thought it over. "Could we get food first?"

"Are you okay with me hitting a drive-through on the way back to your place?" Jo asked Mike. 

"That's fine. He's all right though? I don't need to come out there?"

"No. I've got it." She pulled the phone down just far enough to tap out a discreet text: _I'll get him home soon trust me?_

"I always do," Mike answered out loud. "Okay, see you both soon."

A little over a half hour later, Donnie ran up the driveway, sack of burgers and fries in hand, all traces of his earlier turmoil forgotten. Mike met him at the door, scooping Donnie up in a long hug.

Jo smiled as Mike set him down and Karen ushered him inside. Mike continued down to where Jo stood, leaning against her car.

"So, uh, where did you find him?" 

"That office building a few blocks off. You know the one they almost tore down? Except they tacked up a bunch of signage and now they're pretending it'll work like a shopping center, until it inevitably folds and is sold again. I remembered Donnie liked the door-roofs."

"I'm so glad you found him." A mixture of relief and gratitude was evident both in Mike's tone and the way he sagged now that the weight was off his shoulders.

Jo could only imagine how difficult it must have been for Mike and Karen. "Hey. Donnie's safe. That's what's important."

"This could have been so much worse," Mike agreed and then paced, his agitation clear as he smoothed his mused hair back. "What was he thinking, Jo? Doesn't he know he could have been hurt? Where did I go wrong?"

Jo filled Mike in on what she knew from Donnie's initial outburst and what else she gathered as they made the drive back. "It seems like a bad day that just went too far. I reminded him that there's nothing he can't come to you or Karen for help with. I also said that if it's all right with you that you'd give him my number, just in case."

"I will. What made you think of, well, everything?"

Jo gave him a small sad smile. "I ran away once or twice."

"Ah. And that's how your parents handled it?" Mike guessed.

She shook her head. "I wish they would have."

"What did they do instead?"

"My mom yelled so much that I felt I'd been right to take off in the first place." Jo sighed. "She was scared for plenty of good reasons, I get that now, but at the time I felt more alone at home than I had on the street."

Mike rested a hand on her shoulder. "I definitely owe you one, then. Thank you."

She shook off his thanks. "Just watching your back."

"We'll get you a medal for going above and beyond the call of duty."

"Let's aim smaller. You pay for lunch tomorrow."

"That's a deal."


End file.
